Author's note: Sorry, guys, this is a loong chapter, and it's pretty dull. I just needed one like this to explain the vast of time skipped since Harry ran away.
Just after he turned nine, the children's home reaches its limit and began sending out children to other homes around the country.
Harry had been sent to live on a Cree reserve, because with his sheepskin coat, dark hair and bright green eyes, he looked like a First Nation and so the orphanage thought it would be best to send him back to his heritage.
Harry decided it would be best not to disagree, and so from then on everyone he met assumed he was a Cree, and it never even crossed their minds that he was a european.
Harry had spent a year and a half with the Cree up in Iqualit, who spent most of their time hunting and dancing. Every morning at the crack of dawn, Harry would wake up, pack up his tent and put it with the others.
Then, after performing the morning ritual of dancing in a circle and singing a Cree song, the men would go out to hunt animals and the women would go out to find herbs and berries.
Hunting was hard work, but it was rewarding. It built up Harry's endurance, it taught him how to fight, and built him up.
Harry had learned a lot from hunting with the Cree men, he had learned which animals were the tastiest and the healthiest, how to get the most meat out of one animal, how to fish with his bare hands, how to hunt with a bow and arrow, how to make a bow and arrow, how to make clothing out of animal skins, how to use different parts of the animals to make different useful items, how to sneak silently through the woods, how to fight, and much, much more.
He had also learned their native language, so Harry spoke three languages by the time he was ten. Hunting out in the sun had made him strong, muscular and tan, so he resembled the Cree even more.
But Harry had also spent some time with the women, being the curious boy with the thirst for knowledge that he was.
So Harry also learned how to spot poisonous plants, which nuts, seeds, roots, and berries were the tastiest and the healthiest, how to make clothing out of plants, how to clean and cure meat with plants, how to sew, how to make string out of different parts of plants and animals, how to care for children, how to cook with only raw materials, how to carve (much more advanced than what he had learned in Quebec), how to dance, how to draw and paint, and much, much more.
Harry had matured out of his fearful, pained, seven-year-old self living on the reserve and had used the skills he had learned at the children's home to his advantage:
When Harry was ten and a half, he had turned into a tall (for a ten-year-old), brown and strong boy, with a young but serious face and twinkling, intelligent green eyes.
He had a very strange accent, it was a mix of English, French and Cree, which no one really recognized because no one had really ever heard it before.
After the life he had lived, Harry was practically fearless, and rarely backed down, whether it was to a rabid wolf, being lost at night in the forest, getting in a fight or dealing with a bully.
However, he was still the same quiet and respectful boy he had always been. Even though he was very serious, Harry had a wicked sense of humour that he used to his advantage when he had to.
Everyone liked him, however he still had an aura of mystery that surrounded him, as he was very independent, with a shady past, and the accent only added to that.
The mystery, as well as the fearlessness, and the natural charisma he had made him a perfect leader, and almost anyone he met, young or old, would willingly let him take the reins of most situations.
As well as all that, he was incredibly intelligent: he spoke three languages, he could do grade 12 level math in his head, and he had incredible knowledge on a wide range of scientific subjects.
Also, because he had learned to heal with the first nation women, and his background knowledge of anatomy, he was an excellent healer.
He still wore the same outfit that Henrietta had given him, only bigger and slightly changed each time he outgrew it and had to replace it. A loose, green cotton t-shirt, a black turtleneck sweater, dark, loose, soft blue jeans, comfortable, soft, warm running shoes, woollen socks, a bright red beanie, matching red mittens, and a sheepskin fur coat with a big, furry hood. Oh, and the same denim backpack, dyed red.
The contents of the backpack had changed over time as well:
He had sold the mathematics book and Henrietta's book, and he never bothered to replace them as they were heavy and wasted space.
He still had the black spiral-bound notebook, and he used it as a journal to record all of the magic he had taught himself over the years, as well as theories of what it was. He also used it as an art book to doodle in while he was bored or listening to music, and he sometimes made up math problems to solve in there as well. He had never let anyone else but him look inside the notebook.
His black pen had run out and his pencil had broken, but he had gotten a fountain pen in Quebec with a replaceable ink cartridge that he filled with berry juice when it ran out, and he had fashioned himself a new pencil out of some tree bark and charcoal.
He still had his pocketknife, and he used it all the time for carving, hunting and much else. It was one of his most trusted companions.
His iPod and earbuds were still in great shape, and Harry used them all the time. Harry loved sitting by himself in the forest with his earbuds in, thinking about the future, theorizing about his magic, or reflecting on his past. It matured, relaxed and humbled him, and he tried to leave time for it every day.
He still had the container for food, and in it he made sure was always a reasonable supply of cured meat, roots, shoots, and berries. The food he stored in his backpack could last him about a month, but because it was all cured, it rarely spoiled.
He also had a pouch made out of beaver skin in which he kept medicinal herbs. These helped heal wounds, numb pain, or lower fevers. The only thing Harry couldn't fix with his herbs was broken bones, which he could easily cast with tree bark.
He also had his stainless steel thermos, which now always contained fresh water, no matter what.
Just in case he couldn't find fresh water, though, he had a small bottle of iodine drops in his bag.
Harry was very happy living on the reserve, fending for himself. He felt like he could do anything. And, more importantly, he felt free.